Financial services CHROs are less focused
on the employee experience, which hurts engagement

Can technology make employees happier and more productive?

It does at the best‑performing companies, according to the findings
of a global CHRO survey
conducted by Oxford Economics on behalf of ServiceNow.

Out of the 500 companies surveyed, those with the
highest employee satisfaction and retention rates are all using
technology to foster healthy corporate cultures and improve the
employee experience. Conversely, companies that aren’t using
technology in these ways report lower rates of retention. CHROs in
this latter group are also less confident that their organizations are
staffed with the employees they need for the future.

Looking deeper at the data, the results show significant differences
by industry. Healthcare CHROs have been particularly successful in
using digital technology to improve the employee experience. In
contrast, financial services sector companies aren’t as focused on how
employees experience work. CHROs in financial services also say talent
strategy, in general, is a lower priority among senior leadership. As
a result, employee output is weaker and employees aren’t as engaged.

Healthy choices

Healthcare CHROs working in hospitals, clinics, and insurance
companies are ahead of their peers in other industries in using
technology to improve the employee experience. In fact, 68% say
they’re successful compared with 55% of CHROs in other industries.
They also report greater rates of success in creating consumer‑like
experiences for HR services using technology (72% versus 58%).

Part of the reason is that CHROs in this field see their
responsibilities as far wider than those in other industries, so
they’re digitizing the day‑to‑day work experience more in order to
achieve big‑picture, higher‑level HR outcomes.

Healthcare CHROs are more likely to see improving the corporate
brand (80% vs. 66%) and driving corporate performance (78% vs. 62%) as
core responsibilities, over and beyond traditional human‑resources tasks.

This doesn’t appear to be an overnight phenomenon. Healthcare CHROs
were more than twice as likely as financial services sector CHROs (32%
vs. 14%) to say, with hindsight, that their core role three years ago
was creating an amazing employee experience, according to the survey.

There’s also a difference when it comes to the scope of the human
resources within an organization. Healthcare CHROs are more than twice
as likely as financial services CHROs (14% to 6%) to contribute to
organizational strategy beyond traditional HR tasks.

In other words, when the CHRO is empowered to improve how employees
work, employees work better.

Number crunched

CHROs in the financial services sector work in an environment that
puts less emphasis on talent strategy and using technology to boost
engagement and drive business results.

While 24% of all CHROs strongly agree that other senior executives
are increasingly taking on important roles in talent strategy, just 6%
of financial services sector CHROs strongly agree. Financial services
CHROs are also less likely to strongly agree that improving the
quality of the employee experience is a priority for senior management
(16% vs 40%).

These results appear to be many years in the making: Just 14%
of financial services CHROs say, with hindsight, that their core role
three years ago was creating an amazing customer experience, compared
with 33% of all CHROs, according to the survey.

Today, CHROs in financial services appear less empowered to drive
digital transformations. Far fewer say their core role is to digitize
parts of the employee experience (18% of financial services CHROs
compared with 32% of all CHROs) or to list as a core goal the use of
technology to foster a healthy corporate culture (54% vs. 72%).

Financial services firms are paying for it. They’re less successful
at meeting the demand for skills their companies require, including
industry‑specific expertise (46% vs. 71% in other industries) and soft
skills like client management and communication (38% vs. 54%). They’re
also less likely than all others to say they’ve built a workforce to
meet future business objectives (28% vs. 42% others).

There's a seismic shift happening in the way work gets done in
organizations and what employees expect. CHROs are at the heart of
that change. By thinking strategically about how people experience
work, they have a chance to lead the digital‑transformation projects
that will define successful companies in the years to come.

Tracey Racette Fritcher is Global Director of HR Transformation
at ServiceNow, leading a team of former practitioners who help clients
improve employee experience. She's previously held senior roles at
Baker Tilly, Oracle and Best Buy, among others.